2,300-year-old Horse Headdress from Siberia: this ceremonial headdress was found on the body of a horse that had been buried in the frozen tombs of Pazyryk
The elaborate headdress dates back to roughly 350-250 BCE. It features a pair of "antlers" that were crafted from wood, leather, fur, and dyed horsehair, along with a mask made of blue-colored felt and gold foil. This is just one part of a larger ceremonial costume that was made by Scythians/Altaic nomads. It was found in the Pazyryk barrows, located in the Altai mountains of Siberia, where many other Scythian artifacts have been preserved in the permafrost.
Above: the horse headdress from Pazyryk
The term "Scythian" refers to the nomadic cultures that once roamed across Eurasia. The Scythians were among the very first people to begin using horses as mounts, and they invented the earliest form of saddle; with their mastery of horseback riding and mounted warfare, the Scythians quickly gained control over vast sections of Eurasia. Their nomadic lifestyle also meant that they were deeply dependent upon their horses, and many traditions and beliefs were developed around that relationship, ultimately giving rise to a very prominent "horse culture."
Scythian warriors were often buried alongside their horses, which would be dressed in elaborate ceremonial costumes that included special masks, headdresses, antlers or horns, decorative bridles, harnesses, and/or saddle covers.
Above: the headdress, harness, and bridle
Few of those costumes were as elaborate as this one, however.
This particular costume (and the horse that was wearing it) was found in a tomb that also contained the bodies of nine other horses; all of them had been buried with ceremonial bridles, harnesses, and saddle blankets, but this horse had the most elaborate costume by far, and it was the only horse that was actually wearing its costume when it was buried.
Above: a reconstruction of the full costume
The costume was found on the oldest horse at the burial site -- researchers estimate that the horse was about 20 years old when it died. The second-oldest horse was roughly 18 years old, and it had also been buried with a costume that included an elaborate headdress and horns/antlers. Those features were not found on any of the younger horses, however.
At Pazyryk-1, the size and complexity of each horse’s saddle decorations were generally correlated with age; the horses who wore the most elaborate costumes with headdresses were the oldest.
It is clear the costumes were not made specifically for the burial: all horse costumes, even the most elaborate, were well-worn and in some places mended, indicating regular use. Because these costumes are impractical for everyday use, they probably were reserved for ceremonial use – and due to their being well-worn, such use was common. As with contemporary Mongolian pastoralists, perhaps these costumes were reserved for the Pazyryk’s seasonal changes of camp, or perhaps for other alternate or additional ceremonies significant to the community.
Hermitage Museum: Mask with Antlers for a Horse's Head
Perspectives and Studies in Ethnozooarchaeology: Killing (Constructed) Horses: Interspecies Elders, Empathy, Emotion, and the Pazyryk Horse Sacrifices
British Museum: Introducing the Scythians
Journal of World Archaeology: Do the Clothes Make the Horse? Relationality, Roles, and Statuses in Iron Age Inner Asia
Arts: Deer or Horses with Antlers? Wooden Figures Adorning Herders in the Altai
Fashion Theory: Glittering Bodies: the Politics of Mortuary Self-Fashioning in Eurasian Nomadic Cultures (700 BCE-200 BCE)
Archaeology, Ethnology, and Anthropology of Eurasia: Manufacturing Wooden Horns for the Ceremonial Masks of Horses from the Pazyryk Tombs (PDF)
The Silk Road: Korea and the Silk Roads (p.6)
jbbartram-illu
kaledo-art
discoholicmusic
2087
